Welcome to my blog. HIV prevalence is not a reliable indicator of sexual behavior because the virus is also transmitted through unsafe healthcare, unsafe cosmetic practices and various traditional practices. This is why many HIV interventions, most of which concentrate entirely on sexual behavior, have been so unsuccessful.

But this public angst seems to imply that around 20 earlier outbreaks of ebola were contained because health systems in the countries involved, Nigeria, Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were adequate. In fact, the opposite was the case in some instances, with several outbreaks dying out once the local healthcare facilities were overwhelmed and forced to close down.

The number of people found to have been infected with HIV in Roka Commune, Battambang Province, probably through unsafe healthcare, possibly administered by an unlicensed practitioner, is now well over 230. But that number is already several days old.

More importantly, the inquiry appeared to go beyond the village where the first cases were found, as more turned up from other villages. Will the inquiry also look for outbreaks elsewhere around the country? Surely there are other unlicensed practitioners, other practices where safety is not the priority it should be?

In addition, there may be licensed practitioners and practices where risks are being taken. Perhaps few people have been infected as a result, perhaps none; but if unsafe practices are to be found anywhere in the country there is a risk that there will be other outbreaks in the future.

There have been no serious investigations of healthcare associated HIV outbreaks in African countries, where all the worst epidemics are to be found. The countries where there have been investigations are mostly ones where the global health community does not have a lot of influence, such as China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

None of the media reports from Cambodia suggest that journalists are making any attempt to go beyond what they are fed in the form of press releases. They could quite easily ask people in any village in the country, or even in the cities, about unlicenced practitioners and practices. But the implications of this outbreak seems to be entirely lost on them.

The Australian media, in particular, has had little to add to the subject, although Cambodia is dominated by Australian NGOs, NGO workers, expats of various kinds, business people, tourists and the like. Australians are less likely to visit unlicensed practitioners or practices, but levels of safety in licensed healthcare are unknown.

The press may continue to wait for the scraps that will eventually be thrown to them, or they could carry out their own investigation into healthcare safety in the light of the outbreak of healthcare associated HIV in Battambang Province. But they may end up missing a cover-up on the same scale as the one that appears to have gone unnoticed by the press in Pakistan a few years ago.